Jury Team

JURY TEAM

Eddy Terstall, director and writer

Eddy Terstall debuted his first film Transit in 1992. He started Political Science and Sociology studies at the University of Amsterdam, but didn’t finish. He follows politics closely and considered joining the political world at one point.His 2004 film Simon won four Golden Calves and is said to be the first instalment from a series of three films focusing on freedoms: death, sexuality and rule of law. The other two were Sextet (2007) and Vox Populi (2008).Terstall’s first collaboration with Erik Wünsch resulted in Meet me in Venice, World Cinema Award at Woodstock Film Festival for Best Foreign Film and Best Actress in a Leading Role (Roberta Petzoldt) and the second in Eddy’s upcoming film: Alberta, set to be released this year.

photo by Boudewijn van den Breemer

HANY ABU-ASSAD, director

Hany Abu-Assad was born in Nazareth, Palestine in 1961. After having studied and worked as an airplane engineer in The Netherlands for several years, Abu-Assad entered the world of cinema as a producer and produced the feature film Curfew, directed by Rashid Masharawi, in 1994.

In 1998 he directed his first film, The Fourteenth Chick, from a script by writer Arnon Grunberg, followed by his documentary Nazareth 2000, his second feature film Rana's Wedding and his second documentary Ford Transit.

In 2006 his film Paradise Now about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Tel Aviv was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language film in 2006.

In 2011 Abu-Assad finished working on The Courier, a Hollywood movie starring Jeffery Dean Morgan, Til Schweiger, and Mickey Rourke.

In 2013 he finished working on OMAR, a tragic love story set in occupied Palestine. OMAR won the Jury Prize in the competition of Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival of 2013 and has been nominated for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (OSCARS) for Best Foreign Language Film 2014 and won the Best Film at the Dubai Film Festival.

In 2015 Abu-Assad completed his 6th feature film "The Idol" a drama inspired by the incredible journey of the artist Mohammad Assaf, a singer from Gaza who won the Arab Idol show in 2013.

His latest film was “The Mountain Between Us,” a survival love story about two strangers who fight to survive after their plane crashes on a remote, snow-covered mountain. The film came out worldwide in 2017 and stars Kate Winslet and Idris Elba, with 20th Century Fox as the studio, and Peter Chernin Entertainment as producers.

Jan Harlan, producer and director

Jan Harlan joined Stanley Kubrick in 1969 for a film on Napoleon, which was unfortunately abandoned. He later was executive producer for all Kubrick films such as The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, Barry Lyndon and worked on other unrealised projects with Stanley Kubrick. After Kubrick’s death in 1999 he worked with Steven Spielberg on “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” and made documentaries on Stanley Kubrick and the actor Malcolm McDowell for Warner Bros.

KIm Sherman, Senior Production Executive of Warner Bros, Stage 13

KIm Sherman is a US based Producer/Director, currently serving as Senior Production Executive of Warner Brothers Digital Network, Stage 13, where she oversees a multiproduction slate of content, including Rachael Holder’s Emmy Nominated Series, I LOVE BEKKA & LUCY. Sherman has produced festival favorites such as SUN DON’T SHINE (dir. Amy Seimetz, SXSW 2012), as well as the breakout home-invasion thriller, YOU’RE NEXT (dir. Adam Wingard, Lionsgate 2013). Her production work has come with high recognition, including a fellowship with the 2011 Sundance Institute’s Creative Producing Labs, a spot on Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces List of 2012 and a fellowship with the 2014 Sundance Institute/Women In Film Women’s Initiative. In 2016, Sherman premiered at the Sundance Film Festival with her directorial debut, DOGWALKER, which went on to win the festival’s Women In Film Short Film Prize, as well as recognition from Kodak and Technicolor.

Laser 3.14, post-punk street poet

"I hope to see some good inspirational works by filmmakers. I think there are a lot of talented people working out there so this is a chance to see a lot of work. Ever since I was a kid I have loved movies (especially 70’s cinema) and have read as much as possible about the subject.I don't vividly follow Dutch cinema but there are a couple of really good films out there such as , Soldier of Orange, Spetters, The Assault, Abel, Karakter and De Tweeling. I think the Dutch film industry should also focus on a couple of more unconventional gutsy films. It has been playing it a bit too safe for my taste (But so has the American Film Industry)."

He started out as a graffiti artist in the early 80’s and worked as an illustrator and comic book artist throughout the 90’s when he progressed to street poetry.

Parwin Roghyeh Mirrahimy, Head of program Netherlands film festival

Parwin Roghyeh Mirrahimy (Teheran, 1980) founded the Iranian Film Festival and later the Afghan Film Festival after graduating from Film and Television Studies at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Iranian Film Festival was the first festival in Europe to focus specifically on independent, uncensored cinema from Iran. The festival was organized at film theatres across the country for four years.

For years, Mirrahimy also worked as an independent cultural entrepreneur through her foundation, Woest (Wild).Mirrahimy worked at a pop stage as Programmer and Publicity & Marketing Manager and programmed films for the Zina Platform from theatre maker Adelheid Roosen before she became, in 2009, the Director and Programmer of film theatre De Fabriek (The Factory) in Zaandam, the city where she grew up. She worked here until April 2017, when she became Head of the Program Department of the Netherlands Film Festival.

The first Iranian Film Festival took place in 2006 at the Louis Hartlooper Complex in Utrecht. After two sold-out editions the festival traveled to LantarenVenster in Rotterdam and De Balie in Amsterdam. She worked at a pop stage as Programmer and Publicity & Marketing Manager and programmed films for theatre maker Adelheid Roosen's Zina Platform before, in 2009, becoming Director and Programmer of film theatre De Fabriek (The Factory) in Zaandam.

Mirrahimy became Head of the Program Department of the Netherlands Film Festival on 1 April 2017. There she directs the department and gives direction in content, financial and executive direction of the public program.

In addition to her job, Mirrahimy has a seat on the Board of the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund (Department of the province of North Holland) and from February 2016 until April 2017 she was a Committee Member for Festivals for the Netherlands Film Fund. From January 2019 she will be part of the prestigious jury team of Shortcutz Amsterdam, the Dutch platform for the international 'short films movement' for upcoming film talent.

PIETER KUIJPERS, producer and director

Pieter graduated in 1993 in Theatre, Film and Television Studies and started his career as a screenwriter. In 2002 he co-wrote and directed his first feature film 'Godforsaken', this film won two Golden Calves (aka the Dutch Oscars) for Best Screenplay and Best Director. Since then Pieter directed eight feature films such as: 'Nothing to Lose', 'Manslaughter', 'Heaven on Earth'. His latest movie 'Riphagen', the story about Riphagen, a cunning Dutch traitor during WW2 who helped Nazi round up Jews, stealing their treasures for himself premiere in the Netherlands Film Festival. In 2005 Pieter founded with Sander, the film production company Pupkin. As producer he created several award winning and internationally acclaimed television series, such as 'The Godless' and 'Force'.

RENÉ WOLF, HEAD OF ACQUISITIONS & SENIOR PROGRAMMER AT EYE

“Great feature films or fresh and important developments in some national film industries have often been preceded by daring, surprising and creative shorts. I hope to be surprised, touched, fascinated by the shorts presented in Shortcutz Amsterdam and I am hoping, in particular, for creative shorts which are remarkable both in form and in content.”

René Wolf (1963) studied political science and communication in Nijmegen. He worked in Filmhuis Arnhem as a volunteer (1985-1988) before starting to work at the film museum. Since 1988 he has worked in several positions at the film museum, now EYE, mainly in publicity, programming and distribution.

If you would like to find out more please visit > www.eyefilm.nl

Roel Reine, director

Roel Reine was born in The Netherlands, and with his first theatrical feature 'The Delivery' he won The Golden Calf (the Dutch equivalent to an Academy Award) for Best Director. In 2005 Roel Reine moved to Los Angeles and has now directed an impressive slate of 16 feature films for studios such as Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony and Lionsgate, as well with independent international producers. Roel is also the Director of Photography on all of his movies.Roel Reine is known by fans, critics and Hollywood studios as one of the best modern action directors around today. Some of his latest movies include, The Man with the Iron Fists 2, (with RZA), SealTeam Eight (shot in Africa for 20th Century Fox), Dead in Tombstone (with Mickey Rourke for Universal a VOD hit), and two very popular Death Race prequels, with Sean Bean and Ving Rhames.His latest movie Admiral, a.k.a. Michiel de Ruyter, an epic historical Dutch language movie, had a very successful theatrical release and is still breaking records. One out of every 20 Dutch citizens went to the cinema to see the movie. The movie tells the story of a 17th Century Admiral, Michiel de Ruyter, who protects the Dutch population from a civil war between two political factions while defeating English armada in massive sea-battles.

Rutger Hauer, actor

“I think short films are a very accessible media. They were never considered important enough. First of all because you can tell a lot from the first steps of a filmmaker. They are very difficult to make, it's like building a very tiny house – it's a great exercise. And then, honestly, a lot of feature length films should have been shorts, because they take forever telling a thin story and they send me to sleep.”

Rutger Hauer (1944, Breukelen) was a bit rebellious during his teenage years, running away to work on a freighter at the age of 15. Rutgers career choices ranged from sailor to poet, and he even dropped out of acting school to join the Army, but he soon quit and went back to learn more about his craft.Rutgers acting career was launched in 1969, when he took the starring role in Paul Verhoeven’s popular TV Show, Floris, but he didn’t catch the attention of American audiences until the 1980s, when he appeared in Nighthawks (1981) with Sylvester Stallone, and became notorious by playing fan favorite Roy Batty, a murderous replicant in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), where he delivered one of the most impressive improvisation moments in the history of cinema.He also managed to capture a few hearts in the medieval fantasyLadyhawke (1985) playing Captain Navarre, a mysterious man who travels the countryside with his true love, Lady Isabeau. Taking on a very different acting role that same year, Rutger terrorized C. Thomas Howell — and audiences — as a psychotic drifter in The Hitcher where he also did his own dangerous stunts, which led to more action-adventure films like Wanted: Dead or Alive and Blind Fury. Hauer also garnered critical acclaim in 1988 for his role in The Legend of the Holy Drinker (Golden Lion winner, Venice Film Festival), which won him the Best Actor award at the Seattle International Film Festival.Rutger continued to act in both TV and film over the next several decades, scoring a memorable role in Sin City (2005) as the evil and corrupt Cardinal Roark, and again poked fun at himself - and the grindhouse action genre - as the “Hobo” in Hobo with a Shotgun, a 2011 film based on a fake trailer made by Director Robert Rodriguez. He also plays Abraham Van Helsing in the Italian horror maestro Dario Argento’s version of Dracula (2012).In addition to his impressive acting resume, Hauer founded the Rutger Hauer Starfish Association, an AIDS awareness organization.

SIGRID TEN NAPEL, ACTRESS

SigrId has been in theatre school since she was six years old, and soon people discovered her talent. She was nominated for a Golden Calf (aka Dutch Oscar) for ‘Best Actress’ for her role in the movie ‘Zomer’. Also, she plays in popular series like ‘Overspel’ and ‘Penoza’.

Besides her success in the Netherlands, Sigrid’s busy participating international series. It’s a matter of time before the whole world sees her shining in international movies and series.

If you would like to find out more please visit > NAMAM Artist Management

TYGO GERNANDT, ACTOR

Tygo Gernandt is known for his impressive and diverse roles in films such as Van God Los (his legendary role was crowned with a Gouden Kalf for Best Actor), Het Schnitzelparadijs (for which he won a shared Gouden Kalf for Best Supporting Actor), First Mission, Black Death, Hartenstraat, Boy 7 and Bloedlink (Rembrandt Award Best Actor).This year a new season of Dokter Tinus will be broadcasted, in which Tygo plays the role of agent Ken, and two international films will be released, Math Sucks and Rise Of The Footsoldier Ii.

Vincent van Ommen, actor

Vincent van Ommen is a film, television and voice actor. He was raised bilingual and has worked in both English and Dutch-language TV series and films. He has acted in many international films including, Life is an Art (2010), Amsterdam Heavy (2011), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), and the TV-series You Look Stunning Too (2013) in which he has played the role of Richard. Video games he voiced for include Planet Explorers and Until I Have You.Van Ommen studied acting in England at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In The Netherlands he studied with director Ruud van Hemert and at De Trap, a private school for acting in Amsterdam.He also trained in film & stage combat with Tony Wolf, the Lord of the Rings fighting styles designer.

Willeke van Ammelrooy, actress

Willeke has been seen for decades as one of the biggest movie stars in the Netherlands. She has starred in more than 70 movies, including some 'classics' such as: 'De Lift', 'Ciske de Rat', 'Wan Pipel'. Her feature debut was in Mira (1971) by the hand of Oscar-winner Fons Rademakers, this movie was nominated for a Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. She played Antonia in the Oscar-winning feminist film 'Antonia's Line', this role also granted her the golden calf for best actress. In 2000 she won a golden calf again for her role in 'Lijmen het been'. In 2006 she played Sandra Bullock's mother in The Lake House starring also Keanu Reeves.

In 2012 she won the Golden Calf Culture Prize (aka the Dutch Honorary Oscar) for her contribution to Dutch cinema. Willeke also stepped in directing, and she directed several short films, commercials and the feature film 'THE Butterfly lifts the CAT'.